A CHILDCARE business which set out to start small and grow steadily now caters for almost 60 children four years after it opened.

Small Business of the Year contender Little Bugs Childcare opened in January 2013. Together with Creepy Crawlies and Wired High Ropes it is a growing business within the Web Adventure Park in Wiggington Road.

Opening with a pre-school room, it soon added a baby unit, followed by a toddler unit. Today it caters for approximately 60 children up to five years and to a large extent its growth has been through personal recommendations by happy parents.

The business puts its little customers at the heart of its development. From the start, it differentiated itself by adopting the Regio Approach to childcare and it is the only nursery in York following this ethos.

The owner passionately believes in this philosophy, encouraging natural curiosity by providing a range of different experiences, with positive interaction with professional and fully trained staff.

Children are encouraged to develop their own ideas, creating long term projects lasting for a few weeks or even months.

Visually, the nursery is different from others – with wood, neutral colours, natural play equipment such as shells and breakable items such as ceramics and glass evident, rather than heavy use of bright plastics and decor.

Little Bugs Childcare believes that all children have the right to be understood as individuals and given their own time to develop as creative and competent learners.

Since opening the business now boasts its own, inspiring outdoor as well as indoor play facilities.

It's new chef caters purely for Little Bugs Childcare, providing varied and tasty menus of around 10 portions of fruit and vegetables daily.